DA communications manager Mabine Seabe quits to work on new venture

The Democratic Alliance's director of communications, Mabine Seabe, has resigned with immediate effect.

Seabe told TimesLIVE on Tuesday he decided to leave the DA to work on a new venture, outside the political sphere, to change how the private and public sectors communicate.

"I want to be able to work with all stakeholders, including civil society, to build the country we are all desperate to have," he said.

Seabe predicted 2020 would be a critical year for the country, and said he wanted to put the skills and expertise learnt while working for the party together with those of a group of other talented people with whom he will be working to improving communication in the country.

"It's a decision I made on my own and independent of what had happened in the party, but I will not say that the situation in the party did not perhaps accelerate issues," he said when asked if his departure had anything to do with party leader Mmusi Maimane's departure four months ago.

"I've decided to take a break from politics. I have worked through different elections. I don’t think my journey in politics is altogether done but I am looking forward to carving my space in the private sector," he said.

Seabe had been working for the DA for just under seven years. He joined the party in 2013 as a publicist for Maimane's campaign to become Gauteng premier. He moved to Cape Town with Maimane the following year to become his spokesperson as both the parliamentary leader and party leader. Seabe worked briefly for the DA's Gauteng caucus in 2017 before he was appointed director of communications. He had been acting as executive director of communications for the past nine months.

Seabe joins a growing list of DA senior staff members who have left the party since the May 2019 general elections. Among those who quit were the party's former campaign manager Jonathan Moakes and CEO Paul Boughey.